About this episode
Travis Draney, a transport provider since 2009 and the creator of No-Lift NEMT, sells a WC19 crash-tested reclining wheelchair that lets one driver do a lateral transfer straight off the bed instead of a stand and pivot with two people. He says the system handles 95 percent of gurney-scheduled trips in any wheelchair accessible vehicle, so a wheelchair-only operator can add stretcher-level service without a dedicated gurney van. Draney has sold more than 250 chairs across the United States, runs about 90 percent of his own fleet on them, and sits on the NEMTAC advisory board.
Key takeaways
- Draney trains drivers to read the bed before they load: a gel cushion, a slouching patient, or a Hoyer sling underneath all signal someone who lacks the trunk control a standard wheelchair assumes.
- WC19 is a crash test standard, not a law. Draney notes folding transport chairs often carry a label reading 'not intended to be transported in a vehicle' and ride in vans anyway.
- The chair doubles as a sales tool. Draney walks it into facilities as a show and tell, pulls the nurse or CNA into the transfer, and says that opens accounts cold calls do not.
- One customer came to him doing ambulatory trips only with zero wheelchair vehicles around 2018 and now runs six. Draney has sold over 250 chairs nationwide.
- Reimbursement is the unsolved part. Operators keep asking Draney what they can actually bill for this level of service, and he now offers equipment financing to shorten the payback.
Chapters
- 0:00 Introduction
- 1:15 What is No-Lift NEMT?
- 5:39 Story behind No-Lift
- 9:38 Increased safety
- 11:27 No-Lift being used
- 14:55 Showing No-Lift
- 16:00 How to learn more
- 18:10 Cost effectiveness of No-Lift
- 19:23 Success stories
- 20:43 Awareness of No-Lift
- 26:55 Barriers to adopting No-Lift
- 30:47 Run Bambi Run!
